Application for designing photo albums

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-based application that allows its users to insert their pictures in a variety of different photo album books (called photo books below). Each photo book has several pages that have one or more picture fields for presenting pictures. Different photo books can differ in their size, themes, covers, page designs, page colors, picture-field designs, picture-field layouts, and/or other attributes. In some embodiments, the application also allows the users to modify photo books that they select. For instance, in some embodiments, a user can modify the page design, color, frame design, and/or other thematic aspects of a selected photo books. Also, in some embodiments, the user can add picture and text fields to the photo book. Once the user has completed designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through an online transaction that is initiated through the application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to applications for designing photoalbums.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Digital photography has increased the number of images a typical userstores and manages. There is no longer the need to buy expensive, singleuse film. There is no longer the need to carefully manage this film bothbefore and after development of the film into costly inconvenientprints. There is also no longer the need to carefully select shots toconserve film or money. Film has essentially become an unlimitedresource.

Consequently, a typical user with access to widely available modernimage acquisition technologies (e.g., a scanner, a camera, etc.) maystore many thousands of images on even more widespread storagetechnologies (e.g., memory cards, magnetic disks, optical disks, etc.).As many photographers, both amateur and professional, have come torealize, the trick with snapping a few good shots is no longer simplyhaving the right light or the right film. Although the traditionalissues of image acquisition still exist, new complications of how toedit and manage the volume of image data accumulating on a typicalcomputer hard drive now burden the typical computer user.

In the past, image collectors would develop, edit, and assemble hardwrought photo/journalistic creations into scrapbooks, photo albums, andother culminations or creative work of this sort. The development ofcomputer applications for editing images and assembling the images havegreatly reduced the effort needed to create a modern masterpiece out ofa few pictures. However, the field of existing image managementapplications is still in its infancy. These applications suffer fromlack of usability and may require users a high degree of technicalknowledge and/or creative talent to produce a quality result or even anyresult. The existing applications may further limit a user's ability tocustomize their creations.

Thus, there is a need in the art to assist users in managing the volumesof their image data. There is also a need to allow users to edit andorganize the image data into quality forms of expression. There isfurther a need to allow users additional means to custom tailor theircreative works involving image data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-based applicationthat allows its users to insert their pictures in a variety of differentphoto album books (called photo books below). Each photo book hasseveral pages that have one or more picture fields for presentingpictures. Different photo books can differ in their size, themes,covers, page designs, page colors, picture-field designs, picture-fieldlayouts, and/or other attributes.

In some embodiments, the application also allows the users to modifyphoto books that they select. For instance, in some embodiments, a usercan modify the page design, color, frame design, and/or other thematicaspects of a selected photo books. Also, in some embodiments, the usercan add picture and text fields to the photo book. Once the user hascompleted designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photobook, the user can order the photo book through an online transactionthat is initiated through the application.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features of the invention are set forth in the appendedclaims. However, for purpose of explanation, several embodiments of theinvention are set forth in the following figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a graphical user interface of an application that isfor editing and organizing photos.

FIG. 2 illustrates an image display section showing photographs that arepart of an “Art” album after this album is selected in a source displaysection.

FIG. 3 illustrates photographs from a “Scenery” album after theselection of this album in the source display section.

FIG. 4 illustrates a window from which the user can select a photo bookof some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a preview section providing a preview of a“Watercolor” photo book when this photo book is selected a list section.

FIG. 6 illustrates that when a user selects a drop-down menu, the menuopens up to provide the user with a list of different sizes anddifferent coverings for the photo book.

FIG. 7 illustrates that a “Picture Book” is the only photo bookavailable in softcover for a small size photo book.

FIG. 8 illustrates that in some embodiments, when the user selects the“Choose Theme” button, the application provides the user with a notice.

FIG. 9 illustrates that, when the user selects the manual-insertionbutton in the notice, the application replaces the image-display sectionand the image-command section in the GUI with a thumbnail-previewdisplay section, a photo-album display section, a thumbnail-controlsection, and an edit-control section.

FIG. 10 illustrates the selection of five images.

FIG. 11 illustrates the selection of the “Travel” photo book for fiveselected images.

FIG. 12 illustrates the five selected imaged in a thumbnail displaysection.

FIG. 13 illustrates that when the user selects the icon, the previewsection illustrates a thumbnail view of the pages of the photo book.

FIG. 14 illustrates that the first page of some photo books mightinclude user-editable text fields for inserting a title or a descriptionof the photo book.

FIG. 15 illustrates the second and third pages of the Scenery photo bookthat was discussed by reference to FIG. 9

FIG. 16 illustrates the photo-album display section presenting only thethird page of the photo book, when the user selects the one-page viewicon.

FIG. 17 illustrates moving a slider to enlarge a display of a pagepresentation.

FIG. 18 illustrates a fourth and fifth page of a “Scenery” photo book.

FIG. 19 illustrates two picture fields that do not have any framesaround them.

FIG. 20 illustrates three picture fields with different types of framesaround them.

FIG. 21 illustrates that some picture fields can extend to the boundaryof the page, in some embodiments.

FIG. 22 illustrates a picture field that has a collage design, which iscreated through stripes that are placed over certain parts of thepicture field instead of over the frames around the boundary.

FIG. 23 illustrates a window that opens after the selection of apage-type button.

FIG. 24 illustrates window that specifies different number of picturefields for a currently selected page.

FIG. 25 illustrates that once the user makes a selection, the number ofpicture fields presented on the selected page of the photo book changesfrom two to three.

FIG. 26 illustrates that a window opens when the user selects thepage-design command icon.

FIG. 27 illustrates that the user can specify a different page designfor the currently selected page by selecting a different design in thewindow.

FIG. 28 illustrates a new page design that differs from the page designillustrated in FIGS. 26 and 27 in terms of the layout of the threepicture fields and in terms of the background color of the page.

FIG. 29 illustrates that if the user clicks on the Add Page icon whileviewing the page 3 of the Scenery photo book, the original pages 4 and 5become pages 5 and 6 of the photo book and a new page 4 is added to thephoto book.

FIG. 30 also illustrates that if the user clicks on the Add Page iconwhile viewing the page 3 of the Scenery photo book, the original pages 4and 5 become pages 5 and 6 of the photo book and a new page 4 is addedto the photo book.

FIG. 31 illustrates that some embodiments also allow a user to add orremove a page from a photo book through a command window that the usercan open on top of the photo book page.

FIG. 32 illustrates the start of the dragging of a selected picturethumbnail in the preview section.

FIG. 33 illustrates the dragging of the selected picture thumbnail ontop of a picture field on page 2 of the Scenery photo book.

FIG. 34 illustrates the presentation of the picture associated with thethumbnail in the picture field.

FIG. 35 illustrates the dragging of a picture thumbnail to a location onthe top of page 2 of the Scenery photo book above the picture field.

FIG. 36 illustrates that when the picture thumbnail is dropped at thislocation the application adds a new picture field to the page anddisplay the picture associated with the thumbnail in the added picturefield.

FIG. 37 illustrates the dragging of another picture thumbnail to anon-picture-field location on page 2 of the photo book.

FIG. 38 illustrates that the dragging illustrated in FIG. 37 results inpage 2 having three picture fields.

FIG. 39 illustrates the dragging of a landscape picture in a field onpage 2 to the landscape picture field on page 3 of the photo book.

FIG. 40 illustrates the resulting appearance of the pictures and picturefields on pages 2 and 3.

FIG. 41 illustrates a window for removing a picture from its picturefield in the photo book.

FIG. 42 illustrates the selection of the Remove Photo command in awindow.

FIG. 43 illustrates page 2 of the photo book after the removal of thepicture from the picture field.

FIG. 44 illustrates removing a picture by dragging and dropping apicture from the thumbnail.

FIG. 45 illustrates that the drag-and-drop operation results in thepicture of the dragged thumbnail replacing the picture that waspreviously in the picture field.

FIG. 46 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail of a portraitpicture onto a landscape picture field that has a text field below it.

FIG. 47 illustrates that the result is a new picture field that has aportrait orientation with a text field to its left.

FIG. 48 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail of a landscapepicture onto a portrait picture field that has another portrait picturefield to its left.

FIG. 49 illustrates the result of a new picture field that has alandscape orientation and that has a smaller landscape picture field onits top right corner.

FIG. 50 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail of a landscapepicture onto a portrait picture field that has another landscape picturefield to its right side.

FIG. 51 then displays the result of a new picture field that has alandscape orientation and that has a smaller landscape picture field onits top right corner.

FIG. 52 illustrates that the user first has to select the picture inorder to cause a zoom control bar to appear above the picture.

FIG. 53 illustrates the enlarged presentation of the picture in thepicture field after the user has dragged the slider across the scrollbar.

FIG. 54 illustrates moving a picture in a picture field.

FIG. 55 illustrates the opening of the command window over a picture.

FIG. 56 illustrates that the edited-image window displays the picturethat is being edited, while the image-edit-tools section includes iconsfor several edit commands.

FIG. 57 illustrates the start of a cropping operation that is initiatedafter the user selects the crop icon.

FIG. 58 illustrates the end of the cropping operation.

FIG. 59 illustrates the resulting cropped picture in the window.

FIG. 60 illustrates that the user can also toggle the orientation of apicture field.

FIG. 61 also illustrates that the user can also toggle the orientationof a picture field.

FIG. 62 illustrates that the user can move one picture field in front ofanother.

FIG. 63 also illustrates that the user can move one picture field infront of another.

FIG. 64 illustrates that the user can present a picture that fits thesize of a picture field.

FIG. 65 also illustrates that the user can present a picture that fitsthe size of a picture field.

FIG. 66 illustrates the user's selection of the Theme icon while viewinga photo book that is based on the Watercolor theme.

FIG. 67 then illustrates a warning that the user is presented afterselecting the Theme icon.

FIG. 68 illustrates that when the user confirms that he or she wishes tocontinue, the user is presented with the theme window.

FIG. 69 illustrates the user selecting a different theme, which in thiscase is the Travel theme.

FIG. 70 illustrates the user being presented with a photo book that isbased on the travel theme.

FIG. 71 conceptually illustrates a process that represents an exemplaryflow of interactions between the user and the photo editing andorganizing application of some embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 72 conceptually illustrates a computer system with which someembodiments of the invention is implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, numerous details are set forth forpurposes of explanation. However, one of ordinary skill in the art willrealize that the invention may be practiced without the use of thesespecific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devicesare shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure the descriptionof the invention with unnecessary detail.

Some embodiments of the invention provide a computer-based applicationthat allows its users to insert their pictures in a variety of differentphoto album books (called photo books below). Each photo book hasseveral pages that have one or more picture fields for presentingpictures. Different photo books can differ in their size, themes,covers, page designs, page colors, picture-field designs, picture-fieldlayouts, and/or other attributes.

In some embodiments, the application also allows the users to modifyphoto books that they select. For instance, in some embodiments, a usercan modify the page design, color, frame design, and/or other thematicaspects of a selected photo books. Also, in some embodiments, the usercan add picture and text fields to the photo book. Once the user hascompleted designing the photo book and inserting pictures in the photobook, the user can order the photo book through an online transactionthat is initiated through the application.

I. Overview of Picture Editing and Organizing Application

Some embodiments of the invention are implemented by an application thatis for editing and organizing photos. FIG. 1 illustrates a graphicaluser interface 100 of one such application. As shown in this figure, theGUI 100 includes two display sections, a source display section 105 andan image display section 110. The source display section 105 illustratesicons that represent different collections of photographs, while theimage display section 110 illustrates the photographs in a collectionthat is selected in the source display section 105.

For instance, in FIG. 1, the source display section 105 shows fivecollections, which are a “Library,” “Last Roll,” “Last 12 Months,”“Art,” and “Scenery” collections/albums. When a user selects any one ofthese collections, the photographs in these collections are displayed inthe image display section 110. For example, in FIG. 1, the photographsthat are illustrated in the image display section 110 are thephotographs in the Library, which, in some embodiments, contains allphotographs imported into the application. Alternatively, FIG. 2illustrates the image display section 110 showing the photographs thatare part of the Art album 125 after this album is selected in the sourcedisplay section 105. Similarly, in the image display section 110, FIG. 3illustrates the photographs from the Scenery album 130 after theselection of this album in the source display section 105.

II. Selecting a Photo Book Theme

The photo-organizing application illustrated in FIGS. 1-3 allows a userto arrange and publish his or her photos in one of several differentphoto books with different sizes and themes. Specifically, as shown inthese figures, the GUI 100 of this application includes a book icon 120in an image-command section 115 of the GUI 100.

When a user selects (e.g., through a click operation) the book icon 120,the application presents a window from which the user can select a photobook. FIG. 4 illustrates such a window 400 of some embodiments of theinvention. As shown in FIG. 4, the window 400 includes two sections, alist section 405 and a preview section 410. The list section 405presents all the available photo book themes in a scrollable listformat, while the preview section 410 provides a preview of the photobook theme that is highlighted in the list section 405. For instance, inFIG. 4, the photo book theme highlighted in list section 405 is the“Picture Book,” and a preview of the “Picture Book” is provided in thepreview section 410. FIG. 5 illustrates the preview section 410providing a preview of the “Watercolor” photo book when this photo bookis selected in the list section 405.

As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the window 400 includes a drop-down menu 415.FIG. 6 illustrates that when a user selects (e.g., clicks on) thisdrop-down menu 415, this menu 415 opens up to provide the user with alist of different sizes and different coverings (e.g., a hard cover or asoft cover) for the photo books. Not all of the photo books areavailable in all sizes and with all coverings. For instance, FIG. 7illustrates that the Picture Book is the only photo book available inthe small size as a soft cover.

As shown in FIGS. 4-7, the window 400 includes a selectable button 420entitled “Options+Prices.” When a user selects this button (e.g., clickson this button), a web browser (such as Safari, Firefox, InternetExplorer, etc.) presents a website that provides the user with pricesand options for ordering the photo book that is currently highlighted inthe list section 405.

The window 400 also includes a selectable button 425 entitled “ChooseTheme.” This button allows a user to select the photo book theme that ishighlighted in the list section 405. In other words, through this button425, the user can direct the application to present a photo bookaccording to the photo book theme that is highlighted in the listsection 405 with the size and covering that is specified in thedrop-down menu 415. In some embodiments, when the user selects the“Choose Theme” button, the application provides the user with a notice800 that is illustrated in FIG. 8. As shown in this figure, the notice800 allows the user (1) to click on a button 810 labeled“Automatically,” which if selected directs the application toautomatically insert pictures into the selected photo book, or (2) toclick on a button 805 labeled “Manually,” which if selected allows theuser to insert the pictures manually into the selected photo book.

III. The Presentation of a Photo Book

Manual insertion of pictures in a selected photo book will be firstdescribed below. FIG. 9 illustrates that, when the user selects themanual-insertion button 805 in the notice 800, the application replacesthe image-display section 110 and the image-command section 115 in theGUI 100 with a thumbnail-preview display section 905, a photo-albumdisplay section 910, a thumbnail-control section 915, and anedit-control section 920.

When the user chooses to manually insert pictures in a photo book, thedisplay section 905 can provide thumbnail views of the pictures that areto be inserted (i.e., that have not yet been inserted) into the photobook, as shown in FIG. 9. Whenever a picture is placed on a page of thephoto book, the picture's preview is deleted from the preview window905. Alternatively, whenever a picture is removed from a page of thephoto book, the picture's preview is added to the preview window 905.

Initially, when the user selects to manually insert pictures in thephoto book, the pictures that are previewed in the window 905 are allthe pictures that are to be inserted in the photobook. These picturescan be the pictures that the user selects in the image display section110 before selecting the book icon 120. On the other hand, when the userdoes not select any pictures in the image display section 110, thepictures that are to be inserted in the photo book are all the picturesthat were displayed in the image display section 110 right before theuser selected the book icon 120. For instance, in the exampleillustrated in FIGS. 4, 5, 8, and 9, the user has not selected anyparticular pictures in the image-display section 110, which isdisplaying the pictures in the Scenery album 130. Hence, in thisexample, the preview display section 905 presents all the pictures thatare in the Scenery album 130.

FIGS. 10-12 illustrate an alternative example where the user selectsimages in the image display section 110 before selecting the book icon120. Specifically, FIG. 10 illustrates the selection of five images1005-1025 in the image display section 110. FIG. 11 then illustrates thesubsequent selection of the Travel photo book for these selected fiveimages 1005-1025. FIG. 12 finally illustrates the five pictures1005-1025 appearing in the thumbnail display section 905 after the userhas selected to manually insert these pictures in the Travel photo book.

The thumbnail-preview section 905 can also provide a thumbnail previewof the pages of the photo book. Specifically, the thumbnail-controlsection 915 includes two icons 925 and 930. When the user selects theicon 925, the preview section 905 illustrates thumbnail views of thepictures that are to be inserted in the photo book, as shown in FIG. 9.On the other hand, when the user selects the icon 930, the previewsection 905 illustrates a thumbnail view of the pages of the photo book,as shown in FIG. 13.

The photo-album display section 910 presents one or two editable pagesof the selected photo book. The user can enlarge these pages and/ornavigate through them by using the view-adjust icons 950 and 955,scrolling arrows 940 and 945, and size-adjust scroll bar 960, which areillustrated in FIG. 9. Specifically, the user can navigate through thepages of the photo book through the front and back scrolling arrows 940and 945. For instance, by selecting the front scrolling arrow whenviewing the front cover illustrated in FIG. 9, the application turns tothe first page of the photo book, which is illustrated in FIG. 14.

Also, when the two-page view icon 950 is selected, the photo-albumdisplay section 910 presents to the user two pages of the photo book. Asillustrated in FIG. 15, the two pages include the second and third pagesof the photo book. Alternatively, when the one-page view icon 955 isselected, the display section 910 presents to the user one page of thephoto book. For instance, FIG. 16 illustrates the photo-album displaysection 910 presenting only the third page of the photo book, when theuser selects the one-page view icon 955.

The user can also adjust the size of the presentation in the photo-albumdisplay section 910 by moving a slider 965 across the scroll bar 960.For instance, FIG. 17 illustrates that the moving of the slider 965 tothe right enlarges the display of the one page presentation of FIG. 16.

When the user selects manual insertion of photographs in a selectedphoto book, the application in some embodiments presents the user withthe front cover of the photo book. In some of these embodiments, theapplication automatically labels the front cover with the name of thesource (in the source list 105) of the pictures for inserting into thephoto book. For instance, FIG. 9 illustrates the front cover of thephoto book labeled as the Scenery Book as, in the example illustrated inFIGS. 4, 5, 8, and 9, the photos are all the photos in the Scenery album130 that is listed in the source list 105.

Some embodiments allow the user to change the title that isautomatically applied to the photo book, selecting the title (e.g., byclicking over the title) and modifying it. In addition to the title, thefront cover of a photo book can also include one or more user-editabletext fields, such as fields 970 and 975 illustrated in FIG. 9. Also,some of the pages within the photo books may include user-editable textfields. For instance, FIG. 14 illustrates that the first page of somephoto books might include user-editable text fields for inserting atitle or a description of the photo book.

IV. Photo Book Pages

As mentioned above, a photo book typically has several pages that haveone or more picture fields each. Each picture field defines an area onthe page for displaying a picture. For instance, FIG. 15 illustrates thesecond and third pages of the Scenery photo book that was discussed byreference to FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 15, the second page includes onepicture field 1505, while the third page includes two picture fields1510 and 1515. FIG. 18 illustrates the fourth and fifth pages of theScenery photo book of FIG. 9. As shown in FIG. 18, the fourth pageincludes four picture fields 1805-1820, while the fifth page includestwo picture fields 1825 and 1830.

The design of each picture field can be different in different photobooks or even in the same photo book. For instance, the picture fieldsillustrated in FIGS. 15 and 18 have frames around them. Other picturefields might have different frames around them, or might not have anyframes around them. For instance, FIG. 19 illustrates five picturefields 1905-1925 that do not have any frames around them, while FIG. 20illustrates picture fields 2005, 2010, and 2015 with different types offrames around them. In addition, some picture fields can extend to theboundary of the page, such as picture field 2105 illustrated in FIG. 21.Also, instead of or in conjunction with frames around their boundary,some picture fields might have designs on them. FIG. 22 illustrates onesuch picture field that has a collage design 2205, which is createdthrough stripes that are placed over certain parts of the picture field.

As shown in FIGS. 15 and 18, each page of a photo book can have adifferent number of picture fields in some embodiments. Also, in theseembodiments, different pages in the photo book can have different pagedesigns (e.g., the arrangements of the picture fields, the coloring ofthe page, etc.).

Initially, when the user selects a photo book, the application presentsthe photo book based on the album's default page designs, colors, andpicture fields of the selected photo book theme. The default pagedesigns, colors, and picture fields of the photo book's theme arespecified by graphic designers to maximize the expected appeal of aphoto book. For instance, the designer of a photo book might avoid usingthe same number of picture fields in the same arrangement on successivepages of the photo book, especially successive pages that can be viewedconcurrently.

V. Editing and Adding Photobook Pages

Some embodiments allow the user to modify different default thematicattributes of the pages of a photo book. For instance, FIGS. 23-25illustrate that some embodiments allow the user to change the number ofpicture fields by using the page-type command icon 980 in theedit-control section 920 illustrated in FIG. 9.

Specifically, FIG. 23 illustrates that a window 2305 opens when the userselects the page-type button 980. This window 2305 presents the numberof picture fields that can be specified for the currently selected photobook page, which is a page that the user has selected (e.g., by clickingon the page or by viewing just that page after selecting the single viewicon 955) or that the application has selected as the current page in atwo-page view of the photo book. In the example illustrated in FIG. 23,the current page is the third page of the photo book. As shown in FIG.23, the window 2305 highlights the current number of picture fields onthe currently selected page, when the window 2305 first opens. In thisexample, the window 2305 highlights “Two” as the number of picturefields currently on the selected page 3 of the photo book.

FIG. 24 illustrates that the user can specify a different number ofpicture fields for the currently selected page by selecting a differentnumber in the window 2305. In this example, the user has specified thenumber “Three” as the new desired number of picture fields for theselected page 3 of the photo book. Once the user makes a selection, thenumber of picture fields presented on the selected page 3 of the photobook changes from two to three, as illustrated in FIG. 25. FIG. 25 alsoillustrates that the current number of picture fields (i.e., “Three” inthis example) on a selected page is also identified on the page-typebutton 980, when the window 2305 closes.

Once the user selects a different number of picture fields for a page,the application presents a layout of the new picture fields that theapplication's designer has previously specified as an optimal layout forsuch a number of fields on the currently selected page. Thisspecification is based in some embodiments on just the currentlyselected page, while it is based in other embodiments on the number ofpicture fields that are currently presented on the adjacent page thatcan concurrently be viewed with the currently selected page. Forinstance, in FIG. 23, the layout of the three picture fields on theselected page 3 is the layout that was specified a priori by a designerof the application to be an ideal layout when the three picture fieldson page 3 are viewed in conjunction with the one picture field of page2, which was illustrated in FIG. 15.

FIGS. 26-28 illustrate an example of how some embodiments allow a userto change the layout of the picture fields on a photo book page througha page-design command icon 980 in the edit-control section 920. Thepage-design command more generally allows the user to change the designof a page, which not only can include the layout of the picture field(s)on this page but can also include other thematic attributes. Theseattributes can include the background color of the page, the position oftext on the page, the appearance of the page, the frame or presentationof a picture field on the page, etc.

FIG. 26 illustrates that a window 2605 opens when the user selects thepage-design command icon 2680. This window 2605 presents a thumbnailpreview of several different layouts for the current number of picturefields on the currently selected photo book page. Again, the currentlyselected photo book page is a page that the user has selected (e.g., byclicking on the page or by viewing just that page after selecting thesingle view icon 955). The application may also select the current pagein a two-page view of the photobook. In this example, the selected pageis the third page of the photo book after the changing of the number ofpicture fields from two to three. As shown in FIG. 26, the window 2605identifies the page design of the currently selected page by placing acheck next to one, of the page designs in the window 2605. Also, thepage designs that are illustrated in the window 2605 are different basedon at least one of their thematic attributes. For instance, the pagedesigns illustrated in window 2605 of FIG. 26 differ in their pagelayout, page color, or both.

FIG. 27 illustrates that the user can specify a different page designfor the currently selected page by selecting a different design in thewindow 2605. In this example, the user has specified the design thatappears at the top of this window 2605. Once the user makes a selection,the design of the selected page 3 of the photo book changes from thedesign illustrated in FIGS. 26 and 27 to the design illustrated in FIG.28. The new page design in FIG. 28 differs from the page designillustrated in FIGS. 26 and 27 in terms of the layout of the threepicture fields and in terms of the background color of the page.

A user can also add pages to a photo book through the “Add Page” icon990 in the edit-control section 920 illustrated in FIG. 9. When the userselects this icon, the application adds a page to the photo bookfollowing the current page that the user is viewing in the photo book.For instance, as mentioned above, FIG. 18 illustrates the original pages4 and 5 in the Scenery photo book example of FIGS. 13-16. Now, if theuser clicks on the Add Page icon 990 while viewing the page 3 of theScenery photo book, the original pages 4 and 5 become pages 5 and 6 ofthe photo book and a new page 4 is added to the photo book, asillustrated in FIGS. 29 and 30.

Some embodiments also allow a user to add or remove a page to or from aphoto book through the menu options presented on top of the application(e.g., through the drop-down Edit menu option, which includes Add Pageand Remove Page commands). As shown in FIG. 31, some embodiments alsoallow a user to add or remove a page to or from a photo book through acommand window 3105 that the user can open on top of the photo book page(e.g., by performing a control-click or right-hand click operation whilethe cursor is over a portion of a photo book page that is not covered bya picture field). FIG. 31 also illustrates this command window 3105 toinclude a Clean Up book option. This Clean Up book option will befurther described below in Section IX.

VI. Adding and Removing Pictures and Picture Fields to the Photo BookPages

Some embodiments allow a user to add and remove pictures and picturefields to and from the photo book by dragging pictures from thethumbnail preview display section 905. One way of adding a picture tothe photo book is to drag the picture's thumbnail from the displaysection 905 to an empty picture field in the photo book. An example ofsuch an operation is illustrated in FIGS. 32-34. FIG. 32 illustrates thestart of the dragging of a selected picture thumbnail 3205 in thepreview section 905. FIG. 33 illustrates the dragging of this picturethumbnail 3205 on top of picture field 3305 on page 2 of the Sceneryphoto book, which was discussed in the example in the prior sections.FIG. 34 illustrates the presentation of the picture associated with thethumbnail 3205 in the picture field 3305.

FIGS. 35 and 36 illustrate that another way to add a picture to thephoto book is to drag the picture's thumbnail from the display section905 to a location on a page of the photo book that is not occupied by apicture field. Specifically, FIG. 35 illustrates the dragging of apicture thumbnail 3505 to a location on the top of page 2 of the Sceneryphoto book above the picture field 3305. FIG. 36 then illustrates thatwhen the picture thumbnail 3505 is dropped at this location (e.g., thecursor controller button is released while the cursor is at thislocation), the application adds a new picture field 3605 to the page anddisplays the picture associated with the thumbnail in the added picturefield 3605.

In FIG. 36, the application also changes the previously defined picturefield 3305 to a new picture field 3610. The application picks theattributes of the new picture field (e.g., the picture field'sorientation, layout and type) and modifies previously defined picturefield(s) to maximize the expected aesthetic appeal of the page. Tomaximize the aesthetic appeal, the application in some embodimentsconsiders a variety of factors, such as the layout of any page that canbe viewed concurrently with the current page, the orientation of thepictures on the current page, the theme of the photo book, the layout ofother pages in the photo book, etc. For instance, FIG. 36 illustratesthat the application picks the side-by-side layout for the page 2 of thephoto book as this layout nicely matches the three picture field layouton page 3 of the photo book.

FIGS. 37-38 provide another example that illustrates these aestheticconsiderations. Specifically, FIG. 37 illustrates the dragging ofanother picture thumbnail 3705 to a non-picture-field location 3710 onpage 2 of the photo book. As shown in FIG. 38, this dragging results inpage 2 having three picture fields 3805-3815. As shown in this figure,the application selects the layout of these three fields 3805-3815 to bedifferent than the layout of the three picture fields 3820-3830 on theadjacent page 3 of the photo book, as differing layouts on two pagesthat can be concurrently viewed is more aesthetically pleasing than twoidentical layouts on two such pages.

In addition, given that all three pictures on page 2 have a landscapeorientation and that one of the picture fields 3805 has a portraitorientation, the application ends up displaying only a portion of thelandscape picture that it presents in picture field 3805, as shown inFIG. 38. If the user does not like the limited view of the picture inthe field 3805, the user can always adjust the picture through pan,zoom, and fit-to-frame operations, which will be further describedbelow. The user can also drag the landscape picture to a landscapepicture field on the page or an adjacent page. For instance, FIG. 39illustrates the dragging of the landscape picture in the field 3805 tothe landscape picture field 3825 on page 3 of the photo book. FIG. 40then illustrates the resulting appearance of the pictures and picturefields on pages 2 and 3.

As shown in FIG. 40, the dragging of the picture to the field 3825 notonly took away the picture from page 2 but also eliminated the picturefield 3805 from this page and caused the picture fields 3810 and 3815 tobe replaced by picture fields 3605 and 3610.

Some embodiments also allow a user to remove a picture from a picturefield without removing the picture field from the photo book. Forinstance, some embodiments allow the user to remove a picture throughthe menu options presented on top of the application (e.g., through thedrop-down Edit menu option, which might include a Remove Picturecommand). Also, FIGS. 41-43 illustrate that some embodiments allow auser to remove a picture without removing its picture field through acommand window 4105 that the user can open on top of the picture (e.g.,by performing a control-click or right-hand click operation while thecursor is over the picture field). FIG. 42 illustrates the selection ofthe Remove Photo command in this window, while FIG. 43 illustrates page2 of the photo book after the removal of the picture from the picturefield 3805.

Yet another way of removing a picture without removing a picture fieldis to drag and drop a thumbnail 4405 of a new picture over the picturefield 3605, as illustrated in FIG. 44. FIG. 45 illustrates that thisdrag-and-drop operation results in the picture of the dragged thumbnail4405 replacing the picture that was previously in the picture field3605.

When a user inserts a picture having a first orientation in a picturefield having a second orientation, some embodiments perform one or moreoperations in order to maintain the expected aesthetic appeal of thepage. For instance, FIG. 46 illustrates an example of dropping thethumbnail 4605 of a portrait picture onto a landscape picture field 4610that has a text field 4615 below it. FIG. 47 then displays that thisresults in a new picture field 4705 that has a portrait orientation witha text field 4710 to its left.

FIG. 48 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail 4805 of alandscape picture onto a portrait picture field 4810 that has anotherportrait picture field 4815 to its left. FIG. 49 then displays that thisresults in a new picture field 4905 that has a landscape orientation andthat has a smaller landscape picture field 4910 on its top right corner.

FIG. 50 illustrates an example of dropping the thumbnail 5005 of alandscape picture onto a portrait picture field 5010 that has anotherlandscape picture field 5015 to its right side. FIG. 51 then displaysthat this results in a new picture field 5105 that has a landscapeorientation and that has a smaller landscape picture field 5110 on itstop right corner.

In the examples mentioned above, the application tries to maintain theexpect aesthetic appeal of the page when a user inserts a picture withone orientation in a picture field with a different orientation by (1)switching to a new picture field with a different orientation thatmatches the orientation of the picture, (2) switching the position oftext field(s) on the page, (3) changing size or orientation of otherpicture fields on the same page. In other cases, the application mightperform other operations, such as (1) showing only a portion of theadded picture in the picture field, (2) shrinking the new picture to fitthe picture field, (3) placing a colored background in the picture fieldto smooth the coloring in areas in the picture field that are notcovered by the new picture, etc.

VII. Editing Pictures and Picture Fields

Some embodiments also allow a user to edit pictures and picture fields.For instance, in some embodiments, a user can enlarge the presentationof a picture in the picture field. FIGS. 52 and 53 illustrate how someembodiments allow the user to enlarge the presentation of a picture.FIG. 52 illustrates that the user first has to select the picture 5205(e.g., by clicking on the picture) in order to cause a zoom control bar5210 to appear above the picture. The user can then adjust the size ofthe presentation of the picture 5205 in the picture field 5215 by movinga slider 5220 across the scroll bar 5210. FIG. 53 illustrates theenlarged presentation of the picture 5205 in the picture field 5215after the user has dragged the slider 5220 across the scroll bar 5210.

When the presentation of the picture is bigger than the picture field, aportion of the picture is not displayed in the picture field. In such asituation, some embodiments allow the user to move the picture in thepicture field to show the portion of the picture that the user want toappear in the picture field. The user can move the picture in someembodiments by selecting the picture (e.g., by clicking on it), and thenperforming a click-and-drag operation on the picture. For instance, inthe example illustrated in FIG. 53, the picture 5205 is selected basedon the zooming operation that was described above. Hence, to move thepicture, the user presses and holds a cursor controller button when thecursor is on top of the picture 5205 and then moves the cursor whilestill holding the cursor controller button. This operation results inthe moving of the picture 5205 in the picture field 5215, as shown inFIG. 54.

The user can also initiate the editing of a picture while designing aphoto book. To do this, the user can select the edit option in a commandwindow 4105 that the user can open on top of the picture (e.g., byperforming a control-click or right-hand click operation while thecursor is the selected picture). FIG. 55 illustrates the opening of thecommand window 4105 over the picture 5505. After this selection, theuser can select the edit option. Such a selection replaces thephoto-album display section 910 and the edit-control section 920 in theapplication's GUI display with edited-image window 5605 andimage-edit-tools section 5610, as shown in FIG. 56. As shown in thisfigure, the edited-image window 5605 displays the picture that is beingedited, while the image-edit-tools section 5610 includes icons forseveral edit commands.

FIGS. 57-59 illustrate one example of an edit operation. Specifically,FIG. 57 illustrates the start of a cropping operation that is initiatedafter the user selects the crop icon 5620. FIG. 58 illustrates the endof the cropping operation, while FIG. 59 illustrates the resultingcropped picture in the window 5605. After the user has finished editingan image, the user can return the edited image to its picture field(i.e., can replace the edited-image window 5605 and image-edit-toolssection 5610 in the application's GUI display with the photo-albumdisplay section 910 and the edit-control section 920) by double-clickingon the window 5605.

Through the command window 4105, the user can also (1) toggle theorientation of a picture field, as shown in FIGS. 60 and 61, (2) moveone picture field in front of another, as shown in FIGS. 62 and 63, and(3) have the presentation of a picture fit the size of a picture field,as shown in FIGS. 64 and 65.

VIII. Automatic Insertion of Pictures

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the application provides the user with theoption of manually inserting pictures in a selected photo book or havingthe application automatically insert these pictures in the selectedphoto book, after the user selects a photo book theme. If the userselects the automatic option, the application automatically inserts thepicture in the picture fields of the photo book. After this automaticinsertion, the user, however, is free to change the placement of thepictures, the orientation of the picture fields, the design of the photobook, etc.

As shown in FIG. 9, the book-edit-control section 920 also includes anauto flow icon 992. When the user selects this icon, the applicationautomatically inserts any unplaced picture identified in the previewwindow 905 in the unused picture fields in the photo book. Also, asshown in FIG. 31, the command window 3105 includes a clean-up bookcommand. When the user selects this command, the application performsone or more clean up operations to organize the photo book. Examples ofthese operations include removing unused picture fields in the photobook, removing unused pages of the photo book, etc. Differentembodiments perform different clean up operations and differentcombinations of clean up operations.

IX. Changing Themes

Through a Theme selection icon 994 in the control section 920, someembodiments also allow a user to change the theme of a photo book aftercreating the photo book based on another theme. FIGS. 66-70 illustratean example of a user changing the theme of a photo book. Specifically,FIG. 66 illustrates the user's selection of the Theme icon 994 whileviewing a photo book that is based on the Watercolor theme. FIG. 67 thenillustrates a warning that the user is presented after selecting theTheme icon 994. This warning informs the user that changing to adifferent theme may result in the loss of added text and requestconfirmation from the user whether to continue.

When the user confirms that he or she wishes to continue, the user ispresented with the theme window 400 illustrated in FIG. 68. As mentionedabove, the window 400 lists the available themes and provides a previewof each theme selected in the list. When this window opens, the selectedtheme in the list is the current theme and the preview provided is thepreview of the current theme. FIG. 69 illustrate the user selecting adifferent theme, which in this case is the Travel theme. Finally, FIG.70 illustrates the user being presented with a photo book that is basedon the travel theme.

Once the user has completed designing the photo book and insertingpictures in the photo book, the user can order the photo book through anonline transaction that is initiated by selecting a Buy Book commandicon 996 in the control section 920.

XXI. Exemplary Flow of Potential Interactions

FIG. 71 conceptually illustrates a process that represents an exemplaryflow of interactions between the user and the photo editing andorganizing application of some embodiments of the invention. The flowrepresents some of the ways in which the user can use the application togenerate a photo book. However, the user may follow other sequence ofoperations in interacting with the application to generate a photo book.

As shown in this figure, the process 7100 initially receives (at 7105) arequest to generate a photo book for a collection of pictures. Next, theprocess provides (at 7110) the user with a list of available photo bookthemes that the user can explore. The process then receives (at 7112)the user's selection of a photo book.

Next, the process 7100 asks (at 7115) the user whether the user wishesto manually insert the collection of pictures selected at 7105. If not,the process 7100 automatically inserts (at 7120) the collection ofpictures in the selected photo book and transitions to 7125. However,when the process 7100 determines (at 7115) that the collection ofpictures will be manually inserted in the selected photo book, theprocess 7100 transitions to 7125 from 7115.

At 7125, the process receives from the user edits of the thematicattribute of the photo book. Based on these received edits, the processedits the photo book. Next, at 7130, the process 7100 receives from theuser (1) requests to add and remove pictures to the photo book and (2)requests to edit the pictures and the photo book.

After the editing operations at 7130, the process 7100 receives (at7135) a request from the user to clean up the remainder of the photobook (e.g., to take out unused pages and move up the pictures, ifnecessary). A clean up operation might be required if during the courseof editing (e.g., adding, removing, moving) the pictures, space in thephoto book that was originally designed for a picture is empty. In sucha case, during the clean up operation, the process 7100 edits the photobook to remove all such empty spaces. For instance, if a page of thephoto book includes three spaces for pictures and only two pictures areinserted in that page, the process 7100 would edit that particular pageto provide space for only two pictures.

After the clean up operations at 7135, the process 7100 receives (at7140) a request from the user to purchase the selected photo book. Theprocess facilitates this purchase through an online transaction (e.g., atransaction through the Internet). After this transaction, the processends.

XII. Computer System

FIG. 72 conceptually illustrates a computer system with which someembodiments of the invention are implemented. Computer system 7200includes a bus 7205, a processor 7210, a system memory 7215, a read-onlymemory 7220, a permanent storage device 7225, input devices 7230, andoutput devices 7235.

The bus 7205 collectively represents all system, peripheral, and chipsetbuses that support communication among internal devices of the computersystem 7200. For instance, the bus 7205 communicatively connects theprocessor 7210 with the read-only memory 7220, the system memory 7215,and the permanent storage device 7225.

From these various memory units, the processor 7210 retrievesinstructions to execute and data to process in order to execute theprocesses of the invention. The read-only-memory (ROM) 7220 storesstatic data and instructions that are needed by the processor 7210 andother modules of the computer system. The permanent storage device 7225,on the other hand, is a read-and-write memory device. This device is anon-volatile memory unit that stores instruction and data even when thecomputer system 7200 is off. Some embodiments of the invention use amass-storage device (such as a magnetic or optical disk and itscorresponding disk drive) as the permanent storage device 7225. Otherembodiments use a removable storage device (such as a floppy disk orZip® disk, and its corresponding disk drive) as the permanent storagedevice.

Like the permanent storage device 7225, the system memory 7215 is aread-and-write memory device. However, unlike storage device 7225, thesystem memory is a volatile read-and-write memory, such as a randomaccess memory. The system memory stores some of the instructions anddata that the processor needs at runtime. In some embodiments, theinvention's processes are stored in the system memory 7215, thepermanent storage device 7225, and/or the read-only memory 7220.

The bus 7205 also connects to the input and output devices 7230 and7235. The input devices enable the user to communicate information andselect commands to the computer system. The input devices 7230 includealphanumeric keyboards and cursor-controllers. The output devices 7235display images generated by the computer system. The output devicesinclude printers and display devices, such as cathode ray tubes (CRT) orliquid crystal displays (LCD).

Finally, as shown in FIG. 72, bus 7205 also couples computer 7200 to anetwork 7265 through a network adapter (not shown). In this manner, thecomputer can be a part of a network of computers (such as a local areanetwork (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), or an Intranet) or anetwork of networks (such as the Internet). Any or all of the componentsof computer system 7200 may be used in conjunction with the invention.However, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that any othersystem configuration may also be used in conjunction with the invention.

While the invention has been described with reference to numerousspecific details, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize thatthe invention can be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit of the invention. For instance, in the abovedescription, numerous GUI operations (e.g., click, drag) are describedwhile performing the above method. However, one skilled in the art willrealize that other GUI operations may be performed to achieve the sameresults. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that theinvention is not to be limited by the foregoing illustrative details,but rather is to be defined by the appended claims.

1-5. (canceled)
 6. A non-transitory readable storage medium storing aprogram for execution by at least one processor, the program comprisingsets of instructions for: displaying a plurality of selectable photobook themes that specify different photo book layout for publishing aset of images to different custom photo books; displaying a photo booklayout for a selected photo book theme, said photo book layout having aplurality of pages with a plurality of picture fields for receiving anddisplaying images; inserting the set of images into a set of picturefields in the photo book layout; receiving selection of auser-selectable item for performing a clean-up operation on the photobook layout; and in response to the selection, performing the clean-upoperation on the photo book layout by performing at least one of (i)identifying and removing any unoccupied picture field without an image,and (ii) identifying and removing at least one page that is not beingused to display any image.
 7. The non-transitory readable storage mediumof claim 6, wherein a set of instructions for displaying the previewcomprises instructions for displaying a preview of a custom photo bookwith an image inserted into at least one of page of the custom photobook.
 8. The non-transitory readable storage medium of claim 6, whereinthe set of instructions for displaying the plurality of selectable photobook themes comprises instructions for displaying a thumbnail preview ofa particular theme adjacent to each particular theme in the plurality ofselectable photo book themes.